Woke up this morning to a wicked frost. The sensor near the house was reading -0.6! I could see by how White the car looked that it was colder than that so I went out and moved the sensor about 11' away from the house.
At the last look at 7am it was -3.7! I will have take another reading before I go to work to see if it drops anymore. I took a photo to post later. It's a shame that it's too dark to take some frosty palm pics!

It just goes to show how you can find little protected areas that don't drop as low as the rest of the garden. It has opened my eyes to the fact of just how much protection the walls of the house have on the surrounding temps!

stephenprudence wrote:Perhaps a word has been missed out in the title of this thread, the simple word of 'is'

My garden 'is' history

Bring on something milder so we can carry on gardening I say. By the way Springy, nice documentation, I did something similar on another forum, I'll try and post it on here.

During the last few winter the word is frustration more than anything with not having a consistent base but hopefully it'll be better for you.

I reckon that you could be right about the missing 'is'. Just before I left for work I took the following picture of my weather station. The temperature eventually dropped to -4.5 so I will be checking for damage at the weekend. I think most things will be ok (touch wood) as luckily the soil here drains very well so the palms only got cold not wet and cold.

I am toying with the idea of putting the weather sensor into the crown of the Phoenix canariensis_CIDP tonight, just to see how low that is getting. I think that as the outhouse is heated, some heat will radiate out of the wall thus keeping the temp slightly higher. The roof is kept frost free compared with my neighbours side, which is unheated.

I have got a few Brugmansias in the outhouse which is kept between 5-10c. They have been slowly defoliating which is only to be expected as the lack of daylight hours and lower temps would cause this.

I have got a problem though with the biggest Bruggy. It keeps developing dark, dying patches. I keep cutting them out and sterilising the secateurs afterwards but it keeps coming back. I dont want to lose this plant as it is the variegated one that is beside the patio in my earlier pictures!

Yorkshire Kris wrote:Looks like rot setting in. In spring it should re shoot from the hardwood further down.

Should I leave it to die back naturally or should I keep cutting it back? I am not sure why its doing it as the three others are fine, although they are different varieties.
I am thinking about bringing it into the house to bring it into growth earlier as I don't want to loose it's height. I have had to cut over a foot of the stems off just to get it in the outhouse door!

they look more like they are going dormant than being kept in growth and when kept dormant for winter they need to be somewhere cool and dark.

also they should be kept quite dry, watering only enough to stop it totally drying out.

The only place I have which would be cooler is outside! My outhouse usually stays between 4 and 10c
I water VERY sparingly during the winter and I remove any fallen leaves to stop any rotting coming from them. I have the window open and sometimes the door in milder spells to give good airflow.

After looking at the big bruggy this morning, I have decided to bring it into the house early to hopefully get it back into healthy growth as I can see that at the rate it's dying back, I'll have nothing left by the end of Feb!

Yorkshire Kris wrote:Looks like rot setting in. In spring it should re shoot from the hardwood further down.

Should I leave it to die back naturally or should I keep cutting it back? I am not sure why its doing it as the three others are fine, although they are different varieties.
I am thinking about bringing it into the house to bring it into growth earlier as I don't want to loose it's height. I have had to cut over a foot of the stems off just to get it in the outhouse door!

Ive had a few do that in the past and just cut off the dying bits and it would re shoot from the lower ripe wood in spring. I don't grow them now because of there lethal and tripping qualities.

Hello Steve.... finally found your thread and must say I'm impressed with what you got.
Lots of Spikies too . Most of my half hardy plants I keep in my glass fronted internal shed which is frost free and unheated. My brugs do fine in there even at very low light levels where they simply defoliate. I water only to maintain green stem viability.
Good luck with the Phoenix canariensis_CIDP.. mine did not survive long, the 09/10 Winter killed it slowly

Still it could be worse... we could be living in Benson one of the coldest places in Southern Britain and only 10 miles away.

Thanks Andy! I just hope I get the Phoenix canariensis_CIDP through this winter, to give it the best start for the growing season. It grew quite a few new leaves last year.

Kris, even though I have moved the brugmansia into the house it is still dying back. I'm not going to cut it back for a while and then see if it stops on it's own. If it gets to the main stem, I will cut back to healthy stem and then dust with a fungicide.

I have purchased 3 small yucca rostrata. They are only about a foot or so tall. I just wondered wether to plant them in a group of 3 spaced together or dot them singularly around the garden. Does anyone have any thoughts on what would look more effective? Any thoughts would be gratefully received, especially if accompanied by pictures!!
Thankyou!